The operator of the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been accused of trying to block a Diet panel probe into the March 2011 nuclear accident at the facility.

Mitsuhiko Tanaka, a former Diet panel member, submitted a document to the leaders of both chambers of the Diet on Thursday, asking for an investigation into the matter.

Tanaka claims in the document that Tokyo Electric Power Company told the panel last February that the inside of the building housing the plant's No.1 reactor was pitch-dark as it was covered by a sheet, rendering it too dangerous for an onsite inspection to be carried out.

This explanation, he says, led the panel to give up the idea of conducting the on-site inspection. [link to www3.nhk.or.jp] .